November 22, 2011

Here’s a rough cut of the short animated sequence that Jess Ashman, Nikki Welbourne and I did a wee while ago. It’s not the finished item (other work related projects took over) so it still needs to be tweaked in the edit and a soundtrack dubbed in. Couldn’t resist posting it though!

July 19, 2011

I’m working on a basic set which has to have three functions. These are some of the things I’ve been making for it.

The headboard of the cot is about 20cm high and about 14 cm wide. It has a fantastic little blanket which was made by an extremely skilled knitter – I’m hoping to persuade her to knit clothing on an insanely tiny scale for some of my character models.

The bay window has been finished now, but below is a picture of it mid construction. I’ve still to build a frame behind it for a mock-up of an exterior scene which will be of a night sky.

cot with double moss stitch blanket

constructing the bay window

This set also has some patterned wallpaper and a cabinet (inset). There will be a night-light/lamp on top of it. The wall paper was adapted from a sheet of wrapping paper which was bought in a vintage store in Japan.

June 19, 2011

I’ve finished Doris’s dog, and have given him a little tartan coat and bow for his hair.

The eyes were supposed to be temporary – substituted with off-white ones of the same size, but I’ve grown used to these blue ones and may keep them in. He took longer to make than expected and was a bit of a fiddle, in fact that scowling expression he has mirrors the one I wore for much of the making process. Still he’s finished now and I love him!

Fearsome terrier!

Scowling

View 2

Decided to make a payphone for the hall, with lots of notes sello-taped up around it. Doris was very fond of leaving notes with her rules and regulations plastered all over the place.

Pay phone model

This is the kind of thing they used to say:

Notes

and finally, in situ on the wall of the set.

Pay phone and notes in position in set

Only a few more things to do before starting a little test animation! – oh wait, damn, I need a new computer first… Let’s just say I hope to have something to show soonish.

June 1, 2011

After a spell making prop weapons and rockets, I’ve had a chance to start making a small section of hallway for a test animation of Doris.

I’m re-using a door from a previous set and have adjusted it to open in the opposite way – reversing the door handle and finger plate positions.

Painted balsa door detail

I’ve started the walls for the hallway set.

wall paper detail

Wall with door

The paper on the walls was made using fantastic embossed gift wrap that had been found in the store-room of an old stationery shop that has long since closed. It’s precious as I’ve only got a few sheets of it left and sadly, probably not enough to do a whole room.

I’ve also started to make a small pet dog which may also feature in the animation. He’s at the early stages now and looks like this:

April 27, 2011

Once the head was out of the mould, I painted in the features and started to add the hair.

Painted head

The hands have been cast with a twisted wire armature inside them, they’re just out of the mould here and haven’t been trimmed yet. The real Doris wore nail varnish so I’ll paint that on.

Hands with flashing

Finished head minus glasses

I’m not sure what exactly what she wore on her feet, it may have been some sort of leatherette type slipper but I’ve chosen to make ones with a furry bit at the front. They’ve been cast in silicone and painted before the fur was added and trimmed.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to get the body shape just right and trying to recreate her stance. She has an aluminium wire armature at the moment but I’m going to have to replace it with a ball and socket one at some point. For the moment though, I’ll use this one to do some test animations with.

Twisted wire armatures

Luckily my local fabric shop had some ideal fabric to recreate her brown ‘slacks’, and I’ve given her a little sleeveless top to go with it as well as a dowdy grey blouse.

nearing completion

She’s nearing completion in the above photograph.

And finally, with glasses attached and a little walking stick to help her waddle along, she’s finished.

Doris with walking stick

A face that could curdle milk.

There’s some more pic’s of Doris in different poses in the ‘Pages’ section: Doris Slideshow

April 9, 2011

This character is based on an old lady who, in the guise of ‘housekeeper’, terrorized the inhabitants of an old Victorian house in Glasgow.

Although it was several years ago I still remember her beady little chameleon eyes behind thick rimmed glasses and her brown, bri-nylon slacks.

Sadly I never took a photograph of her – I wouldn’t dare – so I drew this sketch from memory (but it’s a near photographic likeness, honest)

Based on this drawing I started modeling the clay head and gnarly hands. I seem to remember that hers had quite blunt fingers with big nicotine stained fingernails that looked as if they’d been carved out of goat horn or something.

Knarly fingers

These are the clay ones ready to have a mould made of them and below, the mould for the glasses which I haven’t cast yet.

Continued soon when hopefully I’ll have time to do some more work on her…

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